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VUT FINE ART STUDENTS PARTICIPATE IN THE 24 HOURS ANIMATION CONTEST IN 2022
19 October 2022
The Vaal University of Technology Fine Art Students participated in the annual international 24 Hours animation competition hosted by Professor Aubry Mintz at California State University.
Now in its twentieth year, the competition challenges its participants to create a 30 second film based on a given theme in a designated 24-hour period. Prize. This competition is opened to dynamic students from universities, colleges, and high schools worldwide each year through an online platform. Teams work virtually and submit a Youtube link of their films before the deadline – finished films are then judged by a panel of industry experts and prizes awarded to the top 5 teams.
VUT Fine Art students who are registered for the Digital Arts Module are participating for the second time in this international student competition.
This year, three African countries including South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria participated in the competition – where South Africa was represented by VUT’s Department of Visual Arts and Design.
Sharing the competition’s brief for this year, Professor Mintz explained that it focused on future predictions and stated that it is through necessity, curiosity, and creativity, that humans have made leaps and bounds over the last century. “This led to accomplishing so much beyond what we could have predicted – students need to create a 30-second animated film that envisions their predictions of the future broadcast to forward 100 years and let us know how life will or will not change for us all,” he said.
A team of five students was allowed to participate in the competition, and VUT was represented by three groups: The Big Five, The Ani’ Crew and The Ngqingetshe.
Fine Art Senior Lecturer at VUT, Mr Mashaole Makwela expressed his gratitude towards his students and said he is glad that they are engaging in such contests to compete and learn from their peers around the world for free. “The students’ experiences in this contest presented confidence and learning opportunities”, he added.
One of the VUT students: Bandile Nyembe described his experiences and stated that “the most special thing about this competition is that it was an international competition, so we were competing with schools from different countries. I am thankful to be allowed to compete”. Sibahle Ndwandwe on the other hand highlighted that she learned how to write a story for a short animation, keeping it direct, concise, and informative so that it matches and corresponds well with the given theme.